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Tag: caitrionaLally

Posted on December 27, 2021February 16, 2023

Wunderland by Caitriona Lally. I love when you get a gift of a book that


Wunderland by Caitriona Lally.
I love when you get a gift of a book that you maybe would not have picked up yourself. Thank you to @hamsterfox, fellow book-nerd and very fast reader too.
I've heard of Caitriona Lally, of course. She's won some pretty big writing prizes and Wunderland is her 2nd novel.
I really really liked many things about this book.
I admired Caitriona's ability to tell a unique, often untold and not understood story of depression, mental lllness and suicide. Yes, it's a hard read but I read it quickly.
The story centres around a brother and sister. The brother has been effectively banished by his family to Hamburg and his sister stays with him for 6 days. Roy, the brother is a cleaner in a Wunderland museum, a museum of miniature lands and people. Gert, the sister is running away from her married life, her children and her husband who suffers from depression and has attempted suicide many times.
Gert and Roy rub off each other in bad ways. They annoy each other. At times they dislike each other.
Roy is also odd, different, strange. He is building his own miniature world in his bedroom which culminates in a wonderfully paced ending. And the ending is great. It dangles a small bit of hope yet it reminds us we can never run away from what's in our own heads. What's in the head needs to be dealt with first.
As I said I did really like this. Caitriona writes inner thoughts superbly. At times I thought the inner thoughts could have been pulled back a bit and I would have liked to see why Roy and Gert were so wounded. Their parents were quite normal. But maybe that's the point.
@newislandBooks

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Davy Byrnes Stories 2014
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Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
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The Good House
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